I AM A LOVER OF MUSIC.

bass, melody, rhythm, harmony, chorus, song

Music is my “thin space;” that place where God feels

so impossibly close and so real that I am momentarily made completely whole.

For me, music is joy and grief and healing and God,

all set to the very rhythm that my heart beats to.

Because I find God in music, I can be healed by a hymn when my heart aches.

I can waltz to the whispered words and melody of marriage.  I can rock out to redemption.

I can dare to dance as David did.

And I can chorus with community- all of us lifting our voices 

in a sweet symphony that carries to the heavens.

MUSIC IS WHERE I AM TOUCHED THE MOST AND HEALED THE MOST.

Music is where  I am free the most and me the most. It is where I am who I want to be.

I want to live a life so full of song that it makes me dance.

Oh, to capture that feeling forever and live permanently in a lyric, a bridge, a melody;

to always have a heart is so full and so healed

that I can feel the angels dancing inside me.

I AM A LOVER OF MUSIC.

I got to go see one my favorite bands the other night and it was pure magic.  I took one of my very favorite people in the universe, whom you will undoubtedly hear much about in my writing (thank you Jesus for my dear friend Janet.)  The night was breezy and summery, but not boily hot like June nights in the Hill Country can often be.  Our seats were pretty good, but not the kind of good where I can’t eat out for a month.  And Mumford & Sons was on the stage.

I’ve never gotten to see them before but if you like them even just a little bit, then I urge you- beg you really – to go as soon as possible.  Of course, right now, their incredibly talented and fascinating-to-watch bassist (Ted Dwane) is having surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain, so say a quick prayer for him as you read this.  But they think they will be back on the road in no time so get online and find a show, because this one was amazing.  The sound was phenomenal, the lights great, and they were the perfect balance of personality/interaction and just pure passionate jamming out.

It’s been a long time since a new artist or band has shown up and blow me away.  Too long.  In fact, if you want to get me on a soapbox, give me a glass of wine and ask me about the current state of the music industry and you will invariably get a 2 hour rant about label-hugging, commercialism, and the Judas-like sellout of writers and artists alike. As far as mainstream music goes, I feel like no one is actually making some that means anything anymore and the result of that is that I just don’t feel anything when I listen to it.  For me, the day the music died as they say, was the day I heard a song with the words “Scooby Doo night light” in a country song on my radio.  I have never returned to that station since and my husband and friends are forbidden to listen to it in my presence.

So when Mumford & Sons showed up on the scene, I was instantly in love.  Initially, I just totally dug their originality and the irish-jiggy styling of much of their music.  But I downloaded some of their tracks on my iPod and was listening one day when I thought I heard glimpses of scripture in their lyrics.  Could it be?  Not too long after that, I was up one night battling some things out and trying to write and I put them on for inspiration.  What happened after that is all a blur, but when I finally went to bed at 4:14 am, I had an entire short story written and had spent several solid hours reading, crying, and praying over some of their lyrics.

While their music is often written as a full band collaboration, lead singer Marcus Mumford’s Christian roots are evident in many of the songs.  Several are clearly based on biblical stories and scripture and the ones that seem a little more obscurely so still have a strongly spiritual current.  For me, their music is a religious experience.  

Songs like After the Storm speak of the promise of Heaven with hopeful lyrics like “And there will come a time, you’ll see, with no more tears. And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears. Get over your hill and see what you find there, with grace in your heart and flowers in your hair.”

Hopeless Wanderer makes me want to hit my knees and mosh all at once and could very well be the sound track for The Jesus Gypsy (think they’d let me use it?) with the too-close-to-home words of, “But hold me fast. Hold me fast ’cause I’m a hopeless wanderer. And hold me fast. Hold me fast ’cause I’m a hopeless wanderer. I will learn. I will learn to love the skies I’m under. I will learn. I will learn to love the skies I’m under, the skies I’m under.

But perhaps my very favorite is I Will Wait.  On my very hardest days, this song is a much needed reminder that this world is only temporary and my Heavenly Father walks beside me and lives within me and that if I wait patiently for His promises, He always provides.  I crumble every time I hear the bridge, “And I’ll kneel down -wait for now -I’ll kneel down -know my ground. Raise my hands – paint my spirit gold – and bow my head – keep my heart slow. ‘Cause I will wait, I will wait for you – And I will wait, I will wait for you.”

So on that magical night last weekend with my dear friend beside and the breeze all around me and M&S bass beating in my heart, my spirit was indeed painted gold.  I found the strength to wait and the grace in my heart. And I have never more loved the skies I’m under.

What about you?  What music moves you and speaks to you?

Send my your favorite songs and lyrics.

The best entry wins a free Mumford & Sons CD!

see more music that moves me on my music page